Underneath The Mask
by MercyFrost
Summary: She sighed, wishing she could just have one more chance. She knew it would take a miracle to happen , but in her last moments, she allowed herself hope, something she had never allowed herself before. And this was probably the reason for her actions now, a lack of hope. But a miracle did come. In the shape of a hero, bearing a bow and arrows and decked in green leather.
1. Chapter 1

Tess left the Daily Planet exhausted, entirely sure that Lois Lane was determined to make her life as miserable as possible. Her and Oliver Queen, but they were determined in two different ways. Lois was merely determined to keep her annoyed at all time. Oliver on the other hand, wanted to make sure that she was constantly under his thumb, in pain, but just in love enough that if he came back asking for a second chance it would be very difficult to refuse him, if she could at all. After learning about Lex she realized that she really had no one. Just herself.

Exactly what she had in the beginning. All through her childhood. Something that she should have already accepted. She just hadn't.

She tried to reach out to Clark and his friends but the fact that she used to work for Lex blinded them from who she was. She knew that and she told herself she didn't care. But she did and she knew it.

As she walked past the mouth of a dark alleyway and cold hand closed over her mouth, pulling her backward. She tried to resist. She tried to thrash and to bite but to no avail. She was thrown at the wall in front of them. She realized that this dead end could possibly be her end, leaving her dead. She prepared herself for so many things. She always had a bobby pin on hand for lock picking, she always carried a gun.

That's when she realized that in the stumble she lost her purse, holding her gun. Her assailant now had deadly means. But that wasn't a danger if she could keep him from knowing about it. She looked with barely concealed horror at it.

The man reached into his coat. Tess instantly knew he was going for a gun of his own, meaning that she had no need to worry that her own weapon would be the cause of her demise. She took a deep breath, immediately recognizing the glint of gun metal coming from his coat.

Briefly she wondered if this was a murder or a robbery. Now it was going to be both, regardless. But she did wonder which one it was intended to be. Which one was he hired for? It didn't matter. She knew this. But she also wondered if she had been that horrible to someone that they wanted her dead.

She was investigating Clark, making it possible that either him or Chloe didn't want her getting closer than she already was. Tess was a danger to Lois' job. She did almost kill Lana. Jimmy was on drugs so no one really knew what he was capable of at this point. She had turned Oliver down. But none of these people, drugs or no drugs, were capable of something like this.

No, it was a robbery. A simple wrong place, wrong time scenario. She knew she deserved this anyway. She hadn't been good to anyone lately. She sighed, wishing she could just have one more chance. She knew it would take a miracle to happen , but in her last moments, she allowed herself hope, something she had never allowed herself before. And this was probably the reason for her actions now, a lack of hope.

But a miracle did come. In the shape of a hero, bearing a bow and arrows and decked in green leather. He jumped off the top of a building, allowing his momentum to carry him forward in a roll. In a fluid motion he landed on his feet, grabbing the man by his coat and pushing him up against the side wall. "Please, please, I'm sorry," the criminal pleaded.

"Aren't they all?" The Green Arrow hit him over the side of the head, effectively knocking him out and probably leaving a minor concussion. But at the moment, Tess didn't care. She was focused on her savior, her miracle, the fulfillment of the hope she had never allowed herself. She stared at him in shock, knowing she just had a close encounter with death and owed the near miss to this man who had been mocked and trashed by multiple news organizations, including hers. All people saved by him worship the ground he walked on.

She now understood why. She felt a sense of serenity mixed with passion overwhelm her. It was the same feeling she got with Oliver.

For a moment she wondered why she was doing this to herself. But then she realized, it was because she got the warm feeling with someone other than Oliver. It proved he wasn't unique. That she could find that kind of happiness somewhere else, without the heartache, no matter how quickly it seemed to hit her. She could later blame it on the fact that he just saved her life but for now she would just revel in it.

Unconsciously she moved towards until she was right behind him. She pretended to look down at the unconscious man on the ground, feigning interest, but really it was a chance to get closer to him.

He smelled like Oliver, a tough scent, but a pleasing one. It was the kind that used to make her want to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his shirt and never let go. She was getting that same urge now. "Stop. No more comparisons to Oliver," she scolded herself inwardly.

He turned around quickly, and just as quickly adjusted his head so he could look her in the eye. Both became acutely aware of the lack of space between them. Tess, because she was frozen, and Green Arrow because the man was behind him. But neither wanted to move back anyway.

Green Arrow reached his hand to her face, cupping it. Tess involuntarily closed her eyes and leaned into it. He slowly lowered his head down to her lips, momentarily forgetting who he was, and what she didn't know. She moved quicker, always being a bit impulsive when it came to things like this, especially if she could use this to, if only momentarily, to forget Oliver. In one fluid motion her hand flew up to his neck pulling it forward into a kiss. Her arm moved up to his back, clutching the smooth leather and pulling him forward, deepening the kiss. His arm wrapped itself around her waist bringing her as close as possible and holding her there.

Neither wanted to pull away, both knew they had to. He pulled away first, jarring both of them. She spoke first, "I don't imagine everyone gets this special treatment."

"If they did I'd be out if business."

A smile crept onto her face. "I'd imagine." He swore to himself that he wouldn't let that smile claim him again, but he did. Because the reason it did in the first is because he could never resist it, no matter what changes it endured.

Sirens sounded.

Her eyes flicked over to his covered ones, disappointment creeping into them. It was too much for him. He had to give into her, if only this once. "Meet me on the roof of the Daily Planet tomorrow night. 8 o'clock."

Her eyebrow shifted up in question, before the shield broke. She looked straight into his eyes and probably only at her reflection, he mused, but he knew it was partially for the effect. That was exactly the kind of thing she would do. He couldn't help but wonder what moments between them had been real recently. That one blissful night where she didn't fight him, well, maybe that's not the right term as she had literally fought him before the bliss. But the bliss came eventually.

He raised the arm with the crossbow and shot it at the roof, zip-lining to the top. He looked down on her, wondering what it was about her that made him bend when he wanted so much to hate her and everything she had done. But for some reason no matter what she asked he knew he would listen and he half suspected she did too. He heard sirens again and ran to the emergency, leaving Tess staring after him.

She couldn't tell you why, but she knew she knew him. Otherwise he would have treated her like any other girl that inevitably fell for him. She would make sure to keep an eye out for people who might both emotionally and physically fit the bill.

A/N: as of right now I'm basically posting everything I wrothe over the summer. Some of it' snot finished so I'm finishing it as I go along. This was what I found next. I had no means of posting anything over the summer but now I am back and have read through what I have of this story so if it gets any response then I'll keep posting but this is just to see if anyone's interested cuz if not I have plenty of other stuff I could get up.


	2. Chapter 2

Tess walked into the office the next morning feeling peculiar was the only word she could think of to describe it, and she usually never had a shortage of words but things were changing, and a little too quickly for her taste. She was in a daze, yet her senses were picking up everything. Colors were more vivid. Lines sharper. And hearing keener. It was exhilarating.

But more than anything it was scary. Because she knew what this was without a doubt. And last time she had been betrayed in the worst possible way. This was love. Over time, since Oliver left everything lost its sheen. Even when she saw him again she had forcefully dulled the colors, hazed the lines, degraded her hearing. But it still all ran together. All because of some man she didn't even know the real name of.

Thus far, her suspects, which consisted of people she'd seen that day because just like her lungs her memory seemed incapable of doing its job to its full extent, so her suspect, was exclusively Clark, and that was only physically. Because emotionally he and Lois were so far caught up in their own emotional whirlwind that he can't focus on anything else even when he's being payed to focus on anything else, and she can't imagine how that storm evolves outside of work.

So this left even Clark was out of the question, leaving her right where she started, nowhere. Left with endless possibilities of who could be her knight in shining armor. Besides, even if logically Clark was a possibility, she just didn't get any feelings remotely like that around him. Sure, he was attractive, but any female could spot that from a mile away. But she just didn't feel it. And as much as she hated to admit it, that was the biggest lead she had to go on.

She trusted her gut of course. It was only that her gut had little to do with this. Everything was relying on the heart that she had so forcefully repressed for so long. But if he was able to awaken that in her once. She had to hope he could do it again. Even if by some form of magic.

She turned the corner and walked to her office, utterly exasperated at the hole she dug herself so deeply into. She opened the door and her heart dropped. Any high spirits the event of the previous night had left her with disappeared at the sight of the blond billionaire leaning up against her desk with a cocky smile plastered all over his face.

Colors went vivid. Lines sharpened. Hearing focused.

Her eyes closed in what she hoped looked like annoyance, but was actually a frustrated inner battle. When she opened her eyes, they locked on two big brown orbs and her defenses went up as she prepared for battle. "Hi," is how he started off, a simple two letters that seemed so taunting to her and desperate to him. Both just wished he could take that word back already because even if he just left without saying anything, at least she could convince herself that he didn't care so neither did she. But he did. And she did. She was just forcefully oblivious to both facts.

"So we're back to pleasantries," came the immediate and regrettable response. Already, without any real provocation she was ready to attack. And she hated it. She didn't know why she was like this with him. She wasn't like this with everyone, but there was something about him that put her on edge in the most demeaning, uncomfortable, heart-wrenching- No, she couldn't do this. Once she lets the heart get involved it always goes downhill.

She didn't really know why she cared in the first place. That was the problem that every other one sprouted from. She cared.

"Now, that was uncalled for," his smile broke for a moment, and her heart along with it, realizing that maybe, just maybe, he cared too. And that's why she made him falter like Lex never could. But is smile was quickly replaced and with his momentary frown her stray emotions were reeled back in and stored away for her to deal with later. Because they would most assuredly be back. They always come back, especially when it comes to him.

"Oliver, I'm not in the mood to battle with you," she sighed, getting up the gumption to finally make a move to go and sit in her desk. The motion taking much more effort than it should've. Of course it could have had something to do with the fact that her lungs did seem to be working in the first place due to last night's encounter. This on top of it made it so that gasps of oxygen were a rarity.

She dropped some files down with a smack that sounded vaguely like the sound of her hand on his cheek that fateful night. She forced the memory back with those stray emotions and sat, turning to face Oliver, cold facade in place once more. Oliver turned, looking her dead in the exactly the opposite of so many peopLe who were simply afraid to for fear that she would turn them into stone. "I was hoping you'd say that," he smiled that charming smile that sent many women head over heels. She would not be one of those women,

Tess shot him a glare that clearly stated nor am I in the mood for this. His smile broadened and her will threatened to break but she reinforced it and forced her way forward, face not showing an inkling of her inner battle. His face turned serious in an instant, eyes melting with emotion. That little switch was almost enough to make her lose the minuscule restraint she had left. They stared at each other until the questions begging to be asked physically hurt and nearly pushed them back away from each other, which she would have gladly taken the opportunity, if only it didn't appear to be working in quite the opposite way.

But she was good at pretending. And even if she had really already lost what she had worked three years for. She wouldn't let hI'm know that. "Why? Why are you doing this, all of it?"

And her will broke. She shook her head slightly and looked at the ground, unable to meet his eye. There was so much she knew she should've done, so much she shouldn't have. And she wanted to say it didn't matter. But it did. It caused her the hurt she had been trying to avoid. Now he was disappointed in her. And she couldn't blame him. She was disappointed in herself. She hurt people, herself included. "I don't know," was all she could muster.

He was bringing down her walls one by one. Making her be honest with not only him, but herself. And that hurt more than being honest with anyone else. She looked back into his eyes that had no anger in them, like she was used to. She knew anger and could fight it well. But what was in his eyes was disappointment and restrained longing. No, it was more like a longing that he had experienced before, and he was seeing someone who looked like the person he was longing for but the person that was in front of him just looked like her. And it broke her heart. She wanted that look to be for her. But she was a different person now. And he didn't want that person. She didn't want to be that person so she couldn't expect him to want her.

"I wanted to help. I didn't want to be hurt," she whispered, unable to form the words louder than that.

The look in his eyes was too much again. She looked down at nothing, or anything as long as it wasn't him. She expected him to shout, say that she was lying. That that's not possible because if it is she would have done things differently. She expected it because that's what she would have done. That's what any sane person would have done. That's what she deserved. Her answer didn't make any sense, not even to her.

She prepared herself for a new wave of heartbreak. She was ready to steel herself at any moment. He walked over to her, around the desk and in front of her turned chair. He surprised her. He lowered himself to her eye level and grabbed her hand. "You won't be."

She looked him in the eye and it connected, the long stored up passion, the emotion. It exploded. In one swift movement they were up, Tess was against the wall and they were kissing. His arms were snaked around her waist and up her back keeping her close. She grabbed his neck and pulled him closer.

They were lost. The familiarity of it. The constantly unexplored passion. So many days he used to show up at her office for the need of her. And she would give in without a fight. It would end with a snarky remark and he would go on his way. Neither questioned it.

But when he was with Lois he never felt the need for spontaneous visits. He never wanted to. He didn't want to interrupt her work. And for a while he thought that meant that he got it right. That his insane need for Tess wasn't it, it wasn't love. He thought that his respect and care for Lois was what he was supposed to have for the rest of his life.

He knew the world needed him more than Lois did. And if he was honest, he would admit that he hoped he would see Tess somewhere along the way. The irony was, when he did see her again, it was at home. And it was pain that changed her too. It made him more responsible and her, just different.

Stronger was the word she wanted to use, but neither was sure. How do you define strength? Was it the ability to store away emotions at a moments notice? If it was then she was right. But he didn't believe that was it. It was as he said. She was now just...different.

A need for air broke the kiss. But the need for each other flooded the rest of their body. Then a sudden realization came rushing up to Tess. Green Arrow. Somewhere along the line, her hands had shifted to his chest, clutching his shirt. She steadily released her grip and averted her eyes. His hand moved to cup her face. She pulled away slightly, as though his touch burned her. "Mercy, what's wrong?"

He turned her face to look at him. "What's wrong?" He repeated, this time more forceful.

"I need some time," she said, giving the weakest excuse she had ever given him. She pushed his arm away, freeing herself. She moved away and crossed her arms over her chest, facing away from him. "Really?" He says attempting to restore the playful banter.

After there was still no response he tried again. "What? It's not you, it's me?"

"Really it's not either of us," she answered vaguely.

"There's someone else?" Slightly outraged, and a little appalled, he stormed over to her and stood behind her. "You can't tell me you didn't feel that just now." He was feeling protective, he'd admit that. He was protective and more than willing to fight for her. This whole time he had been holding back on her account. He thought she didn't feel it anymore. Now that he knew she did, he was going to fight with everything in him.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I felt that. And I've been wanting to feel that for so long. But I have a chance to start over. Last night, it was thrilling. And it's a chance to start over." That's when Oliver realized she was cheating on him with him, if it was even considered cheating. Now he felt kind of embarrassed. He was worried that this other guy would hurt her. But he wouldn't hurt her so he had no need to be worried. Actually, no matter what he did he hurt her. Unless he let her make the decision and then he told her. Oliver had to appreciate Clark's situation, it was a lot more complicated than he had expected.

But he still had this need to fight. He didn't know why. But logic overruled. "Ok," he said. Then he turned and left without another word.

Tess felt her heart break a little. She had wanted him to fight for her, but he hadn't. The passion was there, but maybe that's what all the other girls thought. For a second he sounded protective, but maybe that was forced. It didn't matter. The point was he didn't fight for her. And there was no point in denying what her heart already knew.

For right now, she had a choice in front of her and there was one deciding factor. Green Arrow was a new start. The question was did she want a new start? Did she want to have to relearn all his little quirks and sensitive topics when she already had someone else already in front of her that she new inside and out? But that goes both ways. Oliver knew everything about her, when Green Arrow knew nothing of the things she had done. Maybe Oliver was the Green Arrow. "That's your dreams talking, Mercer," she reminded herself.

She decided she would go up tonight and tell him what happened and she'd leave it up to him to decide. Maybe in this case honesty was the best route. Or it just ends up hurting her both ways. That wouldn't surprise her.

For the rest of the day she considered lying but kept coming back, wanting to move away from the deceptive person she had been. It had caused her to be alone. No one wanted to help. When the time came she went to the roof.

He wasn't there so she took a seat facing the door she had just walked through, knowing he wouldn't walk through there, but maybe he was the type to like to surprise. "What if he doesn't come?" She thought in alarm.

"He'll come," she whispered to herself. Though if he didn't it would make her choice that much easier. Her choice. The choice of whether to start over or to have another go. The choice between the hero and her hero. What does she want? "You look deep in thought."

"That's an understatement," she replied without looking up.

He walked over and sat beside her. "What are you thinking about?"

She shook her head. "I kissed someone else," she admitted, going with the honest route like she planned.

"Ok," was all he said too. She winced, thinking that neither man would fight. That neither man cared enough.

"I'm sorry."

"I can't decide on that aspect of your life." Her face slackened. It really was a one time thing. And that's why he was here, to tell her that.

"Right," she said, not confirming, but just as something to fill the empty void and awkward silence.

"What did you feel last night?" He asked.

"Confusion, conflict, and complication," she found herself lying again. That's not what she felt last night. That's what she felt today.

"Then you want to forget about this?" He asked, staring at her with covered eyes.

"I didn't say that." Normally she wouldn't have said that but apparently once you decide honesty is the best policy, it bleeds out into surrounding matter and statements, which was not something she was comfortable with.

She still wouldn't look at him. She looked everywhere but him. She appeared to be interested in the graffiti on the wall, or the birds in the sky, or the power lines cutting the two into separate pictures. It didn't matter as long as it was anything, but him.

"Tell you what. I'll come back here in two days, same time, same place. And if you want to continue this you can show up, if not, it's an easy out."

Now, she met his eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you," he laughed. With that, he zip lined to the next building and ran off, leaving her staring after him again.

She walked back down into the office and found that Lois was the only one left. Again. "Lois, go home. Get some rest."

Lois leaned back in her chair and fixed her with a glare of disbelief. "What's the matter? Someone finally return your heart?"

"No, I just finally took off the blinders." Tess surprised herself by saying that. Darn honesty. It's like a parasite, feeding off your supposedly eternal store of sarcastic and icy comments. But, albeit resignedly, Tess realized Lois knew the situation better than anyone. And right now, she needed advice. "How do you deal with it, Lois?"

"Deal with what? The incessant work load, the evil boss..." Lois quipped.

"How do you do the constant tango between Clark and the Blur?"

"Someone got a superhero crush of their own?"

"Can I trust you not to tell anyone?" They danced through the conversation asking a question only to get another question in return. This is how they always communicated, but now it was more serious. Something in the air had changed and both women noticed it. Neither would lie, and in that moment neither felt like betraying the other. There were some things you just don't share, not even with a particularly nosy cousin, and one of those things were affairs of the heart.

Both understood that if it came down to it the other would probably be there for the other. It was just the day to day things that were a little more difficult.

Lois leaned forward and nodded. "Not a single soul, living or not." With this town you never knew.

"Yes, I do. But there's someone else too. And I don't know how to choose. Sometimes it feels neither cares at all. But then moments where it feels like it's all they care about."

"Let me guess. One's an idol and the other's someone who won't judge. You feel like with all the darkness inside you, you don't deserve someone who goes out every night to save people. While he does say he cares, you know he does. And the other understands every little quirk. He knows you inside and out and doesn't care about the deep, dark corners of your mind. And your heart's telling you to take both, but you know if you do that you're cheating and you can't do that to either because they've both treated you so well."

"Exactly." Lois knew what she was talking about. She had been on every road of this little journey and knew exactly what she was thinking because the same thoughts had run through her mind, though probably with cruder language.

"Well, when I figure out what to do you'll be the first to know. But in your case I wouldn't be too worried. You'll figure it out."

Tess couldn't figure out what she meant by that but assumed that there was some secret meaning woven into those words. Lois was counting on her wits to get her to figure it out. Why was Tess' situation any different than hers, other than the fact that Lois' Prince Charmings were the same person. Tess decided that in thanks for the hint that Tess had to mull over she would return the favor. "Talk to Clark about your feelings for the Blur."

"Thanks, but I prefer to keep my relationship in one piece," she said leaning back over and back to work.

"Trust me," Tess said, turning and leaving.

And that left Lois pondering. Her immediate thought was Tess just wanted the upper hand. But then she thought of all the encouragements from Chloe and decided to do it. She would talk to Clark.

Chloe was not in the mood to be encouraging anything right now of anything. She was at Watchtower, looking into some criminal Clark dropped off.

The reason for her bad mood was Oliver. He didn't do anything wrong but, he was being so nice to her and it seemed as though there was something being forced between them that she had to say something. The question is, how?

That's not an issue she has often. So while that question would be difficult for most people to answer, she was having a particularly difficult for her, seeing as she had this leftover habit from her Torch days to just say what she thought. She could keep a secret but if it was an opinion all sensitive people in the area should cover their ears to leave because what's coming out next is probably not going to be pretty.

She had been trying to kick the habit, hence the awkward silence that hung in the car. Oliver seemed to sense it and attempted to ease out of it. "How was work?" Chloe had recently got a job at the Register so as not to crowd Lois and Clark, whom Chloe realized needed lots of elbow room to figure out whatever was going on between them.

"Fine."

"You don't think I'm picking up on the I don't know how to say this vibe? Believe me I've gotten enough of that today." He said taking off his vest and hanging it up since he didn't have patrol tonight. He just dawned the costume for his secret meeting.

"What happened?"

"I kissed the woman I had been pining after since I left her last night as Green Arrow. Then I saw her today and kissed her as normal Oliver. She broke the kiss and told me that there was someone else but she wasn't sure about her feelings and needed time. I got majorly jealous and was ready to sock someone but then I realized that the other man...was me," Oliver ranted.

"Thank goodness," Chloe exhaled.

"What?!"

"No, I just meant that that meant that I wouldn't have to say no way, Jose, because you're still day-dreaming about Tess."

"How did you...?"

She shrugged. "Reporters' nose never fails," she said with a tap to her nose. "So, why'd you kiss her as Green Arrow?"

"She was there, I was there, and BAM. Kissing."

"When did Clark start giving articulating lessons?" she joked.

"Funny," Oliver replied dryly, "what should I do?"

"Hallmark would say to go with honesty. But my gut's telling me she can't be trusted."

"Helpful," he muttered.

Chloe shrugged. "I've got to go. I'll catch you later," she said, grabbing her coat and heading to the Luthor Mansion. Tess is messing with his head, and while Chloe might not care about him that way, she wasn't going to stand by and let Oliver get hurt.

She got into her car and drove for about an hour before she made it to the mansion. She stormed in past the guards, who were growing used to her angry presence. Someone should probably tell Tess about that, obviously she wouldn't see as it working in her favor.

She pushes through the doors and sees Tess on her laptop at the desk. She hadn't changed out of her work clothes. When Chloe entered, Tess' eyes flicked to the bottom, right corner of the screen, where the time was located. Without looking up she said, "Took you longer than I thought it would."

She leaned back and looked at her intently before moving to get a drink. "What are you here for?"

"What did you mean?" came the evasive reply. She was ready for a war but always expected a game.

She smirked. "Now, we could do this all night, debating on who meant what but I'm tired and I'd imagine you are too, so if we are just straightforward about this then both of us can go to bed. The difference is, if you came here for a game of wits, my bed is right in there, you however drove all the way out here. I guess there is a reason for that. So why don't you tell me what it is you're so upset about."

"Oliver. You can't play him, not anymore. He doesn't need you. Get over it."

"I'm not playing him, Chloe. I have a decision to make and you're not helping. You're just taking up my time. So if you're done," with that she turned and walked away.

Before Tess had entirely walked away, Chloe asked, "Do you honestly care about him?"

Tess froze and turned back to her with a look of honesty on her face that Chloe had never seen before. "Yes." With that she turned around and left, leaving Chloe dumbfounded.

It was different maybe she was changing. Maybe she wasn't. Either way, she couldn't tell Oliver.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey, everybody. I am so happy with the response to this story. this chapter is extra long because I had so much I had to put into it and I was considering making this two chapters but couldn't find a place to split it. Please review!

"Clark we gotta talk," Lois said coming through the barn where Clark was shoveling hay. He looked up at her intently, clearly ready for her to speak, though Lois was equally as clearly not. Clark looked at her expectantly and Lois glanced around the hay ridden barn distastefully.

"Let me rephrase that, we gotta talk somewhere...else." Anywhere else really. This was not a barn conversation.

"Ok, Lois, we can go inside," he said putting down the shovel and brushing himself off before following her inside. They walked silently side-by-side inside, Lois was obviously nervous so Clark didn't want to rush her. There wasn't anything in particular that told him she was nervous but there was just something emanating from her that just said frazzled. And that made him nervous.

Once they got inside Lois ordered him to take a seat. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this so I'm just gonna kind of go for it." She sat down across from him, composing herself with her hands folded in front of her.

But while most people would most likely be considering what to say and how to approach a topic as sensitive as the one she was attempting to bring up all she could thi, the only thought running through her head over and over was, "Why am I listening to Tess?" Most people actually wouldn't be surprised. Lois' inability to focus on the subject at hand would probably explain a lot, but still she thought only of the glint in the redhead's eye when she suggested it, bringing her back once more to the question, why?

She never trusted Tess. It was part of her unwritten set of facts that she lived off of, because she would never say code, that would imply she was restricted somehow and she most certainly wasn't that. Rule number one, Chloe probably knows something you don't. Rule number two, Clark is probably hiding something, most likely the thing that Chloe knows that you don't. Rule number three, Tess probably both knows something you don't, which is really annoying, and is hiding something, not only that, but she's probably going to cause trouble with that information. Hence why Lois decided never to listen to her.

But here she was anyway. She had to blame it on the unTesslike manner with which the redhead had broached the conversation. There was something almost like honesty within that conversation that told Lois that her tip was a real tip.

Clark stared at her blankly, waiting for her to begiN, but not quite willing to rush her. She took a deep breath in and blew it out. "Ok, so I've been kinda talking to the Blur, but it hasn't evolved to anything. It's just...friendly. And someone told me that I should talk to you about it and I don't really know why but here I am anyway, spilling my guts out to you," she spit out quicker than even Clark could have done, slightly startling the Kryptonian as he attempted to replay her words in his head so they could actually process them.

Once the words finally settled, his mind went to war, debating the pros and cons of telling her and coming to one final conclusion. She deserved to know."They were right. Lois, I've been wanting to tell you for years but I didn't know how," he paused for second, "I'm the Blur." He watched her, waiting for a reaction.

Lois' jaw just dropped. She had been expecting a variety of different reactions, but that definitely wasn't one of them. She quickly recovered herself, but it had been very noticeable. After regaining her composure she looked back up at Clark, and before he realized it, she was in front of him, yanking him out of his seat, and she kissed him, slowly, lovingly. His arms encircled her body. And hers lay on his chest. They broke apart and Lois smiles up at him, the odds and ends in her life finally coming together.

Clark smiled down at her in return, an idea occurring to him. "Hold on."

He grabbed her and ran to Watchtower, colors blurring past them. They walked through the doors where Chloe and Oliver were talking about _his_ predicament. Both heads shot up and locked eyes with the women in Clark's arms. Needless to say, they were surprised by her presence. Last they'd checked Clark was as paranoid as ever. "Thanks, Chloe," he said with a smile.

"What for exactly?" Chloe asked. Of course she was more than happy to take credit for his spurt of confidence but she couldn't specifically recall doing anything to give him such confidence.

"Telling Lois to talk to me," he explained as though it was obvious. Lois bit her lip awkwardly, knowing exactly where this was going.

His smile was still broad and Chloe felt bad about bringing his happiness back down to reality but she really did have nothing to do with this and that scared her. "Clark, I didn't tell her to do anything."

"Yeah, the reason I said someone was because if you knew who I was listening to on relationships you'd probably get me a psychiatrist," Lois admitted awkwardly, still purposefully avoiding the name and anyone's eyes.

"Who?" Oliver asked, having a vague idea of where this was going and dreading the answer, because this connected Clark to his problem and that was not something he wanted, not yet anyway.

"Tess," she admitted, looking for a reaction. "She was asking me about something I've got to talk to you later about," she said, pointing menacingly at Oliver, "and she returned the favor with some advice on my issue." She smiled awkwardly at Clark and Chloe who were looking at her like she'd grown an extra head, exactly as she would have been doing had her been in their shoes. Clark wondering if she was concussed and Chloe pondering just what exactly Tess' game was.

"Wait!" Lois exclaimed, a thought suddenly occurring to her, "that means you knew the whole time and you weren't upset!" she said, spinning to face Clark, finger outstretched in her direction. He smiled and shrugged.

"Getting jealous over a girl who's cheating on you, with you is not as much fun as it sounds," Oliver explained, downtrodden.

"Speaking of that. I have to talk to you about that. And it seems Lois has something to say on the matter as well. And Clark should probably know," Chloe reasoned.

Oliver sighed, he really, really didn't want Clark involved, or worse, the morality lesson that came with his involvement. "Ok. Lois first, I have a feeling I'm not going to be happy with Chloe's story." Call it instinct, but Chloe had been out of it since she got back and he was willing to bet it had something to do with the redheaded confusion herself.

"She was talking to me about choosing the right one out of two guys that Cupid stuck her with. You weren't exactly subtle when you came into her office this morning. I had it figured out already but the passionate kiss at the end never confuses an audience."

Then Chloe started immediately afterward, not wanting to give herself time to talk herself out of it. "I went to see her about an hour ago after you told me what happened. She seemed, not only sincere but slightly distressed. She seems to be...changing." She was hesitant to admit that last part but knew she had to, no matter how little she actually believed it.

"How long until we give her a shot?" Clark asked. He was on a roll and now that he had the momentum moving forward and wasn't in the mood to stop. Tess hadn't told anyone. And maybe she messed up sometimes but that's something they could help her with better if she knew everything. Clark realized he liked not being paranoid.

"I think Robin Hood, over here should decide," Lois pointed out. It would mean so much more to Tess if it came from him, Lois knew.

"You guys going to Bruce's charity thing tomorrow night?" Oliver asked.

"Can we focus?" Chloe scolded.

"I mean maybe I could bring her. And integrate her into the group better." They all shrugged with a chorus of "maybe".

"It's gotta be in two days. Or else, she'll never trust us."

"Why?" Chloe asked the logical question Clark and Lois were thinking silently.

"That's when Green Arrow promised to meet her," he replied, embarrassed, not meeting the entertained eyes of Lois, and the 'really?' looks of Clark and Chloe.

"Ask her about the charity thing tomorrow. Then we'll decide where to go from there," Clark decided. He didn't know how uneasy Oliver was about that plan. She probably wouldn't agree and he knew it.

But he did it anyway, because this was probably his only chance. The next day Oliver went into Tess' office. She was looking between her computer screen and papers that she held in her hand. His heart skipped a beat. He made himself focus. He was here for business. Sort of.

"Hey, question?" He introduced himself.

She put down the paper and looked up at him with a deep breath, but she didn't say anything. She was tired. Not anyone would be able to tell . Her posture wasn't as stalk straight as usual, her eyes didn't dance with amusement like they normally do. But most of all there was no snappy comeback for his incredible rude entrance.

There was no "Open door policy was meant for employees only."

No "Two abrupt visits in two days, I must have done something really special." None of it. And it surprised him, knocked him off balance. He was always ready for a game of wit with her. He loved it. But he was not ready for a quiet, tired Tess.

"There's a charity thing tonight. Did you get the invite for that?" She nodded. "I really don't want to take some bottle blond who can't form a sentence for herself. Would you want to..go?" Why did she put him so off his game? Asking any other woman out, he would be the suave playboy the magazines loved but with her, he was like an awkward teenage boy asking the prettiest girl in school to homecoming.

"What about a natural blonde?" Came the snide remark, or so he thought.

"They tend-" he rolled his hand in explanation, having a snappy comeback ready in his back pocket, so glad to hear the possibility of sarcasm that he ignored the complete and utter lack of it.

"Chloe, Oliver. I meant Chloe."

"She has her invitation," he explained stupidly, completely dumbfounded as to why she cared about Chloe's invitation. It hit him immediately after and he felt incredibly stupid, wanting to bury his face in his palm.

"So do I," she countered quickly, not noticing his embarrassment for the first time in her life, or else ignoring it for his sake.

"Yeah, but I want you to use mine," he insisted, immediately changing the mood as Tess realized he was completely serious.

The silence got thicker, everything seemed more vivid, the colors brighter and the lines sharper, and her eyes, more honest, less guarded. "I told you I need time."

"I know. The most we'll do is dance," he lightened the mood a little bit. But what mattered, her eyes, they still seemed dim.

She took a deep breath, stalling, thinking. This was a no win situation. But at the same time it seemed like a win-win situation, depending on which way it went. "Ok. Pick me up at seven."

A smile appeared across his face as he left for Watchtower, where Chloe, Clark, and Lois were waiting on the news, as so much rested on this, the expansion of Clark and Ollie's secret, Oliver's feelings, which had never been at stake before.

"Well?" Chloe greeted.

"She said yes," he answered, beaming. His smile faltered and he asked, kneading the back of his neck, "Chloe, do you have a date?"

"Actually, I do. Bruce is taking me." Now she was smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

"Finally!" everyone but Chloe chorused.

"I was beginning to think the Bat was scared," Oliver joked.

"He was!" Lois insisted.

"We've seen this coming," Clark explained to Chloe who was thoroughly confused.

By that night Chloe's excitement had dwindled into nervousness. What if she said something wrong? What if he didn't like her dress? What if he only asked her out because he needed a date? And since when did she care?

Her doorbell rang and she flew to it, then waited a moment to make sure it didn't seem like she had been waiting. She opened the door and Bruce stood in a tux, looking dazzling. He didn't wear a tie. His bright blue eyes popped. And his black hair was combed back with a little gel. "Am I early?"

"No. I was just looking over some stuff," she lied. Maybe Tess wasn't the only one who did that.

"Ready to go?" he asked, charming personified.

"Yeah. Believe me, getting me away from work is not difficult," she joked.

On the other side of town another male billionaire was picking up his date. Oliver came into the office and looked around for Tess but didn't see her. At least this meant she didn't lose track of time and work this whole time. "Mercy?"

"Here," she said from the top of the stairs behind him. She wore a green dress that hugged her body in all the right places, nearly making his jaw drop. She always did look great in green, his favorite color and she knew it, just like so many other things. "You look great," he managed.

"I try," she smiled.

"You know you don't even have to," he said playfully.

"That's a remark of an Oliver fishing for compliments," she teased.

"Is it?" He replied, faking confusion and innocence.

She walked over and grabbed her bag. he found himself wishing for this as more than an anomaly, and the casual way she was addressing it didn't help. He felt like this was supposed to be normal. He felt like he should kiss her softly. And they shouldn't feel awkward or surprised. But he can work his way up to there. She cast him a flirtatious look that drove him crazy to the point where he just wanted to dive into it, into her. "You know it is."

"Car waiting?" she asked, waking him up and he realized he had been staring, not that that surprised him. He just hoped she didn't notice.

"I drove," he admitted with a shrug.

"How common," she joked. He always arrived by limo to these things. Personal. He was trying to be personal. She smiled. This wasn't going as badly as she had first assumed it would.

Clark and Lois' preparations were not going so well however. "Lois, we got to go," Clark called up the stairs getting rather annoyed with his girlfriend's incessant lateness.

Lois came halfway down the stairs with her dress on and her hands in her hair. "Hold your horses Mr. Fancy Pants. You do not know what's it's like to be a girl. We have hair," she said as though that explained everything, which for Lois, it did.

"We have to be in Gotham in an hour," he reminded, this time more gently, not wanting to incur the wrath of Lois Lane

"Fashionably late. Never wanna be the first ones there, Clark," she countered and he just sighed but realized that arguing was pointless.

An hour later Chloe and Bruce arrive. They had to be the first ones there and they move to stand by the door to greet whoever enters.

It's a steady stream of people, attired in gaudy dresses and sharp tuxes. Bruce had on a dazzling smile and was greeting everyone with a "welcome", or a "good to see you" or maybe the occasional "I haven't seen you in a while" if they were extremely friendly. Chloe smiled as Bruce introduced her. The conversation was short but Chloe made sure to participate so she didn't come across as Bruce's normal kind of date Without a semblance of a brain cell. She wanted to make an impression, to be remembered.

But after a while, Chloe was getting bored of the droning conversation. No sign of Lois and Clark or Oliver and Tess. And at this point, as much as she liked Bruce, she would even take Tess for company and under normal circumstances that was never, not even as a last, option.

"Bruce," Oliver said holding out his hand. What is... Oh, right, they're enemies in public. He's got to be cold and distant to Bruce for the cameras, and for Tess.

She's by his side. Bruce shakes her hand as well and they make light conversation. Tess looks at Chloe and seems to realize how utterly bored she is, mostly by being in her shoes before and wanting nothing more than to do pretty much anything else. "Chloe, your make-up's a bit smudged. Why don't we go fix that?" she suggested with a smile.

She takes Chloe by the arm and leads her away and toward the bathroom, leaving the two men to talk. "Tess Mercer to my rescue," Chloe laughs. Never, under normal circumstances that is. But hey, she asked for it.

"The first few of these parties are brutal. I remember I couldn't wait to get out." Chloe assumed she was talking about when she took over Luthorcorp. She had assumed she had been busy making a good first impression.

But that wasn't her first. Chloe didn't know just how well she and Oliver had known each other. Oliver had dragged Tess to a billion of these things when they were together. She hated them. After a while she realized that no one notices if you go missing for a few minutes. But it was too early in Chloe and Bruce's relationship for them to spend time really alone.

Then again it was too early in Tess and Oliver's relationship for that as well. "Do you get used to them?" Chloe asked walking into the bathroom behind her.

"Depends on your company. Which is why I'm with Oliver instead of some other blonde idiot," Tess answered, looking in the mirror and flicking her hair, she glanced over at Chloe, "No offense," she said with a smirk.

"I know most of my kind aren't the brightest people on the planet." She fixed her hair and fluffed it a little with a laugh. Maybe Tess wasn't too bad if Chloe wasn't convinced everything was supposed to be an insult. And maybe she was so happy about getting out of her previous situation that she was delirious.

Behind them the door swung open and a 20 year old blonde girl in a skimpy outfit walks in. "Sorry!" She exclaims highly before turning and leaving again.

"Like that," Tess points out. Chloe laughed again. But ma ybe Tess deserved a chance. Maybe she could change, maybe she could even learn to enjoy her company at moments like this.

There was a crash from outside, in the ballroom. It wasn't the crash of someone dropping a glass. It was larger, something big. A window, a chandelier, or something like that. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. Screams erupted. They seemed to be heading towards the door.

Both women's faces dropped. Chloe's head whipped over to Tess, who was looking at the door. Tess locked her gaze on Chloe. "Something's not right."

Chloe scoffed. "The crash give you that idea," she responded sarcastically.

"No, I don't think this is an accident." Tess flew into action. "Check the door," she commanded.

"Locked."

Tess flipped her hair to one side tilting her head and started playing with it. "Timing?" Chloe asked, appalled.

"Perfect," Tess replied certainly, pulling a bobby-pin from her hair and holding it up between two fingers. Chloe snatched it from between her fingers and started picking the lock.

Tess opened her bag and pulled out different parts to a gun and started assembling them. The lock clicked. "Ready?" Chloe asked, leaning against the door with her hand on the knob.

Tess nodded. Chloe pushed the door open. There were two guards with bags over their heads there. Chloe whirled around and took one of their heads and smashed it into the wall, successfully knocking him out. Tess whacked the man on the head with the gun she had assembled, also knocking him out.

"The ballroom's this way. We should help evacuate," Chloe says. Tess nods and they run towards it.

The Scarecrow is battling Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow. Everyone else was gone. "We should help," Tess says urgently, thinking of Green Arrow. He needed her now. She had to help.

"Tess, they can take care of themselves. We'd only get in the way," Chloe reasoned. Tess looked back. They seemed to have it mostly under control. Superman and Green Arrow were taking out henchmen while Batman was battling Scarecrow.

She sighed, but turned and ran for the exit. They went through the doors and two police officers moved them behind the tape where they were bombarded by Lois. "Are two you ok? You had me worried sick. Why were you in there so long? What were you doing? What's going on in there?" She bombarded the pair with questions, making Tess regret ever sending Lois to interview anyone.

"Whoa, slow down there, Lois. We're fine. We were in the bathroom when Scarecrow attacked. We took out the two guards by the bathroom. And got out," Chloe explained slowly, gauging her cousin' reaction but she was watching Tess.

Tess was looking around for something or someone. She was still in urgent mode, so her eyes were scanning each and every person's face. "Come on, Ollie. Where are you?" She muttered.

"Where _are_ Oliver, Bruce, and Clark?" Chloe asked, keeping up appearances.

"Didn't see them at all," Lois explained with a shrug and pretended to scan the the crowd before realizing that Tess' attention was drawn completely away from the cousins, not paying them the slightest bit of attention. Normally, she would have noticed the lack of panic but right now her concern for Oliver took precedence.

Police were gearing up to head in. Supposedly, Scarecrow was armed with fear toxin. They were all in hazmat suits and were more than prepared to take him. They entered the building.

She turned to look for Oliver again, now getting worried. Instead, she saw Clark and Bruce running towards them. Tess immediately knew something was wrong, call it instinct, but she just knew.

"Oliver. He was hit with the fear toxin."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Clark get me there," Tess ordered, not hesitating a second, her reactions always having been decisive and a tad impulsive, avoiding thought all together for the most part.

He picked up his keys and turned but Tess didn't move, only changing from entirely urgent to urgent and a little annoyed. "Clark, I'm not kidding." And her eyes conveyed just how serious she was.

He looked up at her gravely and nodded. He turned and walked into an alleyway. Tess followed, probably looking suspicious but not really caring. He grabbed her and ran her to the hospital in a blur of color. He dropped her off in front of the doors so as not to raise too much suspicion.

She pushed through the doors and up to the counter, looking deathly at the receptionist. "Oliver Queen was just brought in. Where is he?"

The secretary looked up at her with a sympathetic smile and for a moment Tess' heart dropped before she had time to decipher the meaning behind it. Her gaze dropped to the clipboard that was being slid toward her. Tess looked sharply at the woman. "No." She shamelessly used the glare that made grown men with all the power quake in their boots.

The nurse sighed and asked her partner to man the desk, as it was a particularly slow night. "Come with me."

They were in Gotham and almost as many strange things happen in Gotham as they do in Metropolis. Because of this they have a special ward devoted to things like Joker's laughing gas or Scarecrow's fear toxin. Oliver was in that ward. Tess followed the nurse through the sterile hallways, thinking about what she might find, her heartbeat getting quicker and quicker but keeping her calm facade on.

Supposedly he was one of the few that actually got hit. How or when it happened no one knew. The nurse was explaining all this to Tess, who was hardly listening due to the fact that her mind was clouded with worry.

What if they couldn't fix it? What if he died? What if he died and never knew how she felt? What if she never got the chance to tell him? A constant steam of what ifs that filled her up with more and more fear.

She was scared. No for once in her life she would allow herself to use the word. It applied here. She was terrified. Terrified that he would leave her all alone to face the darkness of the world, that his death would immediately extinguish what little light she saw in the world. But worst of all, him going and not knowing, thinking that she was in love with someone else. That was the world's biggest lie. He was the only one. He was always the only one. And frankly that had scared her. So she did the thing she blamed him for, running.

Forget starting over. She would give anything just to have him back, to know he was ok. She would forget the Green Arrow. She wouldn't show up tomorrow. He just needed to be there.

They stopped outside a window, jarring Tess out of her thoughts. "He's in there." The woman looked at Tess with sympathy. Her heart dropped. She walked forward a few steps. A doctor came over and told the woman go back to the desk and that he'd handle it. Tess heard it, she just couldn't process it, not when she was trying to process this...this disaster.

Tess walked over to the window. Oliver was thrashing, or attempting to do so. He was restrained. Chloe, Lois, and Clark came up behind her, but she was only vaguely aware they did so, eyes trained on the terrified blond man.

She felt herself pale, the strong facade gone. She wanted to cry, but enough of her dignity was aware that she held it in. He was yelling and screaming something. But it was inaudible. "It's soundproof. He's been like this since he got here," the doctor explained.

"What's he yelling for?" Lois asked, as Tess still couldn't say anything. She couldn't tear her eyes away. He was in so much pain, emotional pain. The toxin was messing with his head, making his worst nightmares a reality.

"Mercy." Her heart broke. Tess physically felt it happen. He was screaming for her. Tears threatened to spill for the first time in years. She was the cause for this.

No, now's not the time to be silenced by emotions. Tess flipped into business mode again, not skipping a beat. If she could do something, she could handle it. But waiting for a miracle was not an option. "Can he hear us?"

The doctor shook his head. His face said it all. He was a lost cause. But Tess didn't believe it. She didn't want to. She couldn't.

Her attitude seemed to catch on. Lois steeled herself. Chloe followed suit. Clark had always been unable to do so and none of the women expected that to change now. "What can we do?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing. I'm afraid that with the rate his heart is going due to the fear, he'll die." Tess had to steel herself all over again. She nearly lost it. He was that afraid for her.

"Listen, buddy, that's not an option. You spent thousands of dollars to learn how to fix people. You make thousands to do just that. Oliver Queen is coming out of that room alive. The only question is whether you need our help to do that or not," Lois began to yell. Chloe could respect that they all handled fear their own ways. She retreated into herself. Tess stuffed her emotions to the back of her mind. Clark falls apart. But Lois...Lois yells and screams and occasionally punches people, including innocent doctors who just don't know better.

The doctor obviously didn't understand the dangers of an outraged Lois Lane when he answered, "Miss, we did everything we can."

"Sir-" Clark began to reason.

He was cut off by an approaching scientist. "Doctor! Doctor!" he called as he ran down the hall "Doctor, we've had a breakthrough! This serum will banish the toxin from the mind. Unfortunately it's not enough though. The mind is already so far into the nightmare that they can't just banish it. They need someone to talk them out of it."

All three women sent the doctor a pointed glare. He gave an awkward smile in return. "Who wants to go in?"

Immediately, without hesitation, Tess volunteers. The doctor looks to the other three, who nodded in agreement, certainly not going to argue with a Tess set on anything, especially something this important. And certainly not after the events with the last serum Oliver was put under. He woke up and he wasn't afraid for himself, not his date, Tess was what came into his mind. And no one was going to argue with that. Tess turned and confidently walked over to the door. She was taking command and was not accepting no for an answer. When she reached the door she turned and looked the doctor in the eye. Her eyes held a ferocity that he didn't expect. It was confident and told him everything he needed to know about this woman, enough to scare him a little more than it should. "I want you to release the restrains. Inject him with the serum, then release him."

"Ma'am, he could seriously hurt you. He's flailing-"

She cut him off, he was like anyone else she had had to bulldoze over in the last few years. All those years under Lex had to amount to something, and if this was it, she wasn't going to argue. He would just need a little persuasion. "If you're worried about a lawsuit, I wouldn't be. I won't press charges regardless of what happens."

The doctor took a deep breathe, thinking it over. "Ok," he agreed. He realized no matter what he said she would get what she wanted. She was a smart woman with a lot of power, that much he knew. Bruce Wayne might be the power player of Gotham but he knew a big man on campus when he saw one and she was definitely distinguished among socialites.

They moved into the room and the doctor injected him with the serum. He didn't calm at all, but now he could hear them. "On my say," Tess told him. She placed her hand on his arm gently.

"Mr. Queen you're ok," the doctor reassured. But Oliver couldn't hear him. It was just another voice added to the mess. Everything anyone had ever told him about how useless he was and how he had hurt her was flooding back to him. Tess was bleeding out right in front of him she was calling out for him to save her, but he couldn't move. Why couldn't he move?

He felt something on his arm, a steady presence. It felt like hers. It couldn't be, she was dying right in front of him. There was nothing there. And she wasn't a ghost, not yet. But then one voice cut through the others and silenced them. "Oliver." It was her voice. The other voices started coming back but were silenced again. "Oliver," she called.

Clark, Lois, Chloe, and Bruce, who had just arrived and was caught up were watching with rapt attention. Lois was clinging to Clark. And by this time Chloe had forgotten her worry of Bruce and had grabbed his hand. He was seeming to respond to her voice. Whenever she spoke, his thrashing slowed. But they didn't know if that would be enough.

Tess' hand moved down to his. She clutched it firmly and took a deep breathe. "Oliver, I need you to listen to me." This time nothing happened. He kept thrashing. Tess panicked. This was her worst nightmare.

Then she felt something on hr head. It felt like a kiss. But coming from where? Then she heard Oliver's voice. "Come on, Mercy, come back to me."

Realization hit her. This was her worst nightmare. "This isn't real," she said aloud.

The world faded around her until it was all black.

She gasped and shot up. She was changed out of her dress and into hospital garb. The room was pitch black, almost as bad as the inside of her eyelids but now she could see her hands right in front of her face. She took a few more shaky breaths, realizing how close to death she had been and what her worst nightmare actually was.

It wasn't her father, as she had thought for so long. It wasn't watching Megan being killed. That nightmare plagued her sleep often but very rarely bothered her during her waking hours. Even her fear of not being enough altogether wasn't as bad as she thought. None of it was anything compared to the idea of anyone, especially Oliver, was hurt because of her.

She kept reminding herself that it wasn't real but his sweaty face flashed across her vision. His cries for her rang in her ears. She shuddered.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she saw that there was a chair beside her. And it was occupied. Oliver had stayed by her side. He wasn't gone. He was sound asleep beside her. Her heart jumped. She hadn't expected it. How could she have? The idea didn't even enter her mind.

She was still covered in cold sweat. Her breath was still shaky. She couldn't calm down.

Oliver grunted and turned in his sleep. She glanced over at him briefly but then returned to her thoughts that rushed back at the sight of him. His eyes flickered open. "Mercy?" he gasped.

"Mercy!" he cried. He threw himself off the chair and towards her. He grabbed onto her and held her tight, breathing in the scent of her. He nuzzled his face into her neck. He mumbled, "Mercy. Mercy. I thought-"

She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder, grabbing at his shirt just to make sure he was real. And healthy. And just generally ok. Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes and blurred her vision. But that was ok, because she felt him and he was there and he was ok. He was ok. "I know. I know."

He broke away, looking her in the eye. He cupped her face, gliding his thumb across her face and wiping away a stray tear that managed to leak out. She leaned into the touch, reveling in the feeling of him. "Are you okay?" Concern was evident in his voice.

She nodded eyes still closed. "I'm fine. How long was I out?"

"Three hours," he answered.

"Three hours," she repeated softly in wonder. It felt like fifteen minutes. The longest fifteen minutes of her life, sure, but fifteen minutes.

"Get some sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

She nodded weakly before laying down. She fell asleep instantly, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.

The next morning she gets checked out and released. Oliver took her home, not leaving any room for question. "Lois, Clark, Chloe, I assume Bruce, and I are going to lunch at twelve. Wanna tag along?" he offered, still unsure of how it would go. She hadn't let go of his hand all day.

"Ok," she agrees calmly, holding something back.

"Great. I'll pick you up at eleven thirty."

She smiles hesitantly but doesn't argue. She doesn't like the idea of being away from him for that long but she can't seem clingy. Besides, she's got to get past this. "Sounds good."

Oliver watched as she closed the door. He leaned up against it, thinking over the events of the previous night. He had found her as the Green Arrow. Chloe had come running into the ballroom where he, Clark, and Bruce were fighting Scarecrow. Bruce had wanted to take him on himself. When he had finished Chloe ran into the room. She yelled that Tess had gotten poisoned.

He remembered demanding Clark take her to the hospital. He remembered rushing to get changed and then speeding to the hospital. He remembered the fear on her face and by consequence, the fear that gripped him. He hadn't been able to fall asleep. And even when he did it was a nightmare of his life without her. Or her dying. Her funeral. But overall it just ran together in a blur of fear that was worse than anything he'd ever felt before.

It didn't matter. She was fine now. And now he had to go talk to everyone else. He drove to Watchtower. Chloe was working and Bruce was lounging around talking to her. When he noticed that Oliver walked in he asked, "How's she doing?"

"She's fine," Oliver replied shortly.

"Did you ask her?" Chloe asked.

"She's coming."

"You gonna tell her?"

"Yeah."

"Look, man," Bruce said, "I know you're worried. But she said she's ok," he encouraged.

"She wouldn't say if she wasn't," Oliver argues. Even they knew that. Tess thought she was supposed to be too strong to let anything get her. And that meant she wouldn't tell him either, no matter how much he wanted her to.

Chloe turns to face Oliver with a hand on her hip. "She might not, but she also wouldn't risk her health so you wouldn't worry." Chloe was right. Tess was stubborn. But she's still smart and wouldn't be stupid about something like this. It didn't ease his tension though.

"You're right. But," he took a deep breath, "she was so scared. And there was nothing I could do to help." He remembered seeing the fear grip her face and the worst part was that she would do nothing but toss her head, his indication that she wasn't fighting, because she didn't know to. And how can you win a battle you're not fighting.

"That's something you're going to have to get used to. There will be things you can't help. You have to trust her," Chloe admonished.

Oliver nodded, not entirely loving the idea. "You two going today?"

Both nodded. Oliver glanced at the clock on the wall. "I should go home and get changed. I wouldn't be so attractive if I wore the same clothes two days in a row," he joked, knowing no one would probably even notice. Tess would've on a normal day but probably not today.

The next problem is figuring out how to tell your unofficial girlfriend that you're actually a vigilante that kissed her before he was set to meet her. Yeah, no way this could go badly.

He drove home, imagining her reaction. Ranging from an angry "You played me!" to a passionate kiss and everything in between. He got changed and left again to go pick her up, running through different scenarios and options.

When he got to her apartment he knocked on the door and she opened it. She was dressed casually, as they were only going to a diner or cafe or something like that, nothing fancy. And yet, he was still stunned for a moment. He realized that it'd be very difficult to live in the same house if every time he saw her he couldn't breath for a moment. Cause of death: Suffocation due to presence of girlfriend.

"Let me just get my bag," she said. She turned, leaving Oliver in the doorway. She called back, "You don't have to stand in the doorway. You can come in."

She seemed almost back to her normal self. Almost. She still looked a little pale and tired. But she didn't seem scared or skittish. She had her normal air confidence that had a way of putting him at peace. Of course, it was probably a facade but he would like to think he would be able to tell.

She was taking longer than he thought she would so he just took a seat on couch. Then he noticed some papers on the table. He shouldn't have looked, and he knew that as he was doing it. But he saw Lex's signature and his curiosity was peaked.

It was headed 33.1. He knew what Lex did there. He quickly checked to make sure that she wasn't coming around the corner before picking it up. He scanned it briefly. He didn't have to look all that hard. He got the general gist pretty quickly. She was still tracking all the meteor freaks.

Oliver looked up at nothing, staring into space and momentarily forgetting the events of the night before. All he could think was that he had trusted her. Even when she didn't deserve it he had given her a chance, the benefit of the doubt. She came around the corner and saw him holding the paper and staring in shock.

He knew she was there but he couldn't look at her. He didn't know how she could stand to face anyone. He had used every excuse in and out of the book for her, but now, this was proof. There were no excuses for this. How do you forget this? Now could he look at her? A little voice in the back of his mind asked the counteracting question. How could he not?

"Oliver, listen to me-"

"Why should I? So you can lie to me again?" He was outraged. But more than that, he was hurt. And those two lead to an extreme anger that led to an outburst.

"I need you to hear-"

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say." He said storming out. He was fuming. Eventually when the initial anger died down he would just hurt and would need a stiff drink but for right now, what he needed what to hurt something.

He sent out a text, so he didn't have to go into detail, saying neither he nor Tess would be coming to lunch. At that moment, he couldn't talk to anyone about anything much less about Tess.


	5. Chapter 5

He headed toward the gym, where he could punch something and not get kicked out. He found even as he was throwing punches he was getting flashes of her. Her hair. Her eyes. They came with each punch and only served to encourage him.

There was one question that beat against his head. He hated so much about her. Her secrets, her lies, all of it, everything she had become. So, why did he still love her so much?

He tried to tell himself that it was because he had cared once upon a time, and he was in love with that person. And not the person he knew now. It was the only option. The only option besides exactly what he was afraid of in every respect. Love.

He knew how corny that sounded. He had been running from the possibility of being able to spend the rest of his life with someone. He ran from commitment. He ran from her. He ran from the possibility of a long happy life with a wife, and maybe even kids. He ran as far as he could and as much as he'd like to say he'd never looked back, he did. He looked back every night as he went to sleep. The what could have beens played on the back of his eyelids in his dreams.

He was at the point where he wanted to go to her for comfort. But he couldn't because that'd be pointless. Run to her for comfort because of her, yeah, that makes sense. His frustration was building. He slammed the punching bag, sending it flying back and forth.

His thoughts of her, always her, made him more and frustrated until his anger burned out and he broke. He held it the bag, stopping it, grabbed his stuff, and decided to head for the bar, where he could wallow in the numbing arms of alcohol.

After a few drinks his anger was down to pure sadness. He sat, a little dazed on a barstool, thinking, still about her. "Always about her," he mumbled.

A man sat beside him and ordered "the usual" and the bartender complied. Oliver could only imagine what she would say right now if she saw him. She always seemed to know which approach he needed at that particular point in time. She could be comforting or exactly the kick he needed to get up again. He just wish someone else knew too.

"Girl problems?"

"Always," Oliver answered grimly, "You?"

"Yeah, just got major league dumped. I was thinking about proposing, too. What happened to you?"

What did happen to him? What could he have done to change this? Should he have listened to what she had to say? When thinking about what he could've done to make his life better he always came back to one conclusion. One decision, made on one drunken night.

The night he cheated on her. He had never seen such a blatant mixture of hurt and anger on her face. It was a look he hoped never to see again. It broke his heart. It made him, even drunk, regret what he did. It was the look that plagued his nightmares. He had hurt himself just by hurting her. And he didn't understand it.

This time she had kept in the hurt look until he left. So he didn't regret his decision as quickly. "She couldn't be trusted. So I walked out." But he knew it was coming.

"Why couldn't she be trusted?"

"She did some things. I can't explain, but..." He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

"Did you entrust something to her?"

"No."

The man paused, and asked ever so rudely, "Do you hate her?"

Oliver stopped for a moment and thought. Did he hate her? Could he hate her? If it came down to it, would he allow her to get hurt? If he was going to do something but she got hurt in the process, would he go through with it?

"No."

"I think you love her. Maybe I'm missing something. But maybe you are, too. I suggest you talk to her."

Oliver knew what he had to do. He had to go to the top of the Daily Planet to see her, as Green Arrow, of course. It just may be the only way they can get over this.

He had his gear in the car and another hour and a half before he had to be there and he was right around the corner, so he didn't have to leave just yet. Deciding that thinking about her in every way shape or form didn't feel very good, he pulled out his phone to see that he got an e-mail, sent by Tess this morning.

Attached was a copy of the document that he had seen. The body of the e-mail said that she was pushing a project forward to attempt to find these people and remove the trackers as they could be used against them.

When he had come to pick her up Tess assumed he had read the e-mail. But the look on his face said it all. Those papers were the first he had heard of it. Now, she sat on her couch, utterly confused on how to proceed.

She knew Oliver hadn't trusted her completely yet but she thought he gave her more credit than that. At least a little bit.

Why did she care, anyway? "Because I love him," she whispered to herself. She admitted the bitter fact to herself. She knew she had loved him in the past, really truly loved him. But for a while that love was instead consumed by bitter hatred.

Start over. She made the decision. If Oliver wasn't the only one that could make her heart skip a beat than that meant that he wasn't the only one she could love. She still had time to make it to the Daily Planet. If she left now she would only be a few minutes late.

She got up and left without a second thought. She had a chance and she was going to take it. What's done is done. That's how she had to look at it. It was easiest that way.

As she stood at the top of the Daily Planet this is what she convinced herself. Look to the future. He was 15 minutes late. She had been 2 minutes late but was he really that punctual?

No, he probably wasn't. He probably just wasn't coming.

She couldn't waste too much time on this either, so she turned to leave. "Sorry I'm late."

Tess whirled around, not realizing just how excited she actually was. She hadn't realized how upset she had been that he hadn't shown. She was really beginning to appreciate the strength of her defense mechanism. "You make your decision?"

She laughed humorlessly. "It was made for me."

"I'm sorry," he said with a lot more emotion than she would have expected. He sounded genuinely sorry, as though it was his fault.

"It's not your fault." He had almost forgotten that it wasn't supposed to be his fault. This would be so much simpler if only...but then she probably wouldn't speak to him at the moment if she knew.

"Still. You should have had the option."

"You're not...upset?" She had expected him to be. It made sense. She's only here because someone else shut her down. That's how she thought he would see it. She didn't know that he saw how he had messed up and hurt her and that this is his chance to make it right.

"No. What happened?"

"There was... a misunderstanding."

"Any chance of fixing it?"

"I don't think so."

He gave a small smile. "Good. Then you won't feel guilty about this." He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly. His hand moved to her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek.

Her hand slid up to his shoulder. His arm moved around her waist. She rested her other hand on his chest. The kiss didn't move towards something more passionate but stayed at something both were unaccustomed to. A tender, gentle kiss. It was slow and comforting. Neither could tell you how long they stayed like that. But when they finally broke apart both felt like they woke up from a dream and crash landed into reality.

"I can't tell you who I am yet," He said slowly.

She wanted to tell him that she didn't care and that she just wanted to curl up in his arms and cry or maybe sleep. But she didn't. Instead she said. "It's safer that way."

Somehow he seemed to know what she needed. He took her in his arms and she nestled herself into him. She fit perfectly, almost like she did with Oliver. She closed her eyes at the painful thought and let herself drown in the comfort she was getting.

He whispered words of comfort in her ear. She didn't know what he was saying but it still helped somehow.

But as expected. It had to end. Sirens went off in the distance. She pulled away. "You have to go."

"The Blur can-"

"They need you more than I do." He looked at her, searching her eyes. She was stubborn he knew that, so he quickly kissed her again before leaving.

"Two days. Same time, same place," he called back.

Tess figured that since she was there she could finish up at the Daily Planet and make sure everything was running smoothly even though she took the day off.

She walked down. Checked the preview for the morning edition. Everything seemed to have gone well and most seemed to have cleared out or were chasing a lead. "Tess?" Everyone except Lois Lane.

"Hello, Lois."

"What are you doing here? We assumed you played hooky because you weren't feeling too great." Tess held back a sigh. She really didn't want to have this conversation.

"I'm just checking how things went over," she made up an excuse.

"And?" Always the reporter. Never able to let it lie.

"I wasn't feeling spectacular earlier, but a nap does wonders sometimes." Well, then she would just lie her way out of it. Though her outfit wasn't doing much to support her lies.

"Then why couldn't Oliver come?" Of course she put two and two together. It'd be too easy otherwise.

"Last I checked I'm not Oliver." Thankfully.

Chloe walked in carrying two cups of coffee and handed one to Lois, announcing all the way, "Yeah, but you two are showing signs of Lois and Clark syndrome," Chloe announced herself, "and constant knowledge of each other's whereabouts is one of the side affects."

Lois shot her a dirty look that Chloe returned with a bright smile. Meanwhile Tess was quickly realizing that this was going downhill and decided to try and make an exit. "As much as I hate to disappoint, I really have no idea where he was."

Chloe and Lois exchanged a look of disbelief but didn't stop her exit, following her with their eyes the whole way out, both silent, both thinking the same exact thing. Something was up. And they wanted to know what.

Later the cousins and their respective partners were assembled at the Kent farm, sitting around a tv that wasn't on. "So it wasn't exactly what we thought."

"Or anything like like it," Lois added.

"We don't know that for sure. But we do know something's off," Chloe rushed to explain.

"Like what?" Bruce asked.

"Maybe they had a fight?" Clark offered.

Chloe asked the follow up question. "Over what?"

"Who knows? Especially with those two it could be anything from she brought Hitler back to life or Oliver didn't think her cereal was high enough in calcium," Lois quipped, knowing full well about Ollie's protective instinct, especially when it came to Tess. But on the other hand who knew what she was capable of.

"Funny, but not very productive," Bruce pointed out.

"Did she seem uncomfortable when you mentioned Oliver?" Clark tried to steer the conversation back to its original purpose.

"A little," Chloe admitted.

"So it probably has something to do with him," Bruce deduced like the Einstein he is.

Lois opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Clark. "We know Hitler to Wheaties." Lois shot him a dirty look but shut her mouth, taking to sulking in silence.

"I'll call him," Bruce reasoned. He picked up his phone and dialed the number. He put it on speaker so everyone else could hear, too because reexplaining what was sure to be a strange conversation was certainly not something he wanted to do. After a few rings Oliver picked up.

"Look, Bruce, I'm not really in the mood to talk."

"Why is that?" Bruce met Clark's eyes which glimmered with naive hope that he still envied. He knew they weren't getting anything out of Oliver, otherwise he would not be airing out his dirty laundry so easily. He was just hoping to get him off his case.

"I had a major blowout with Tess as Oliver, realized I was wrong, and comforted her as Green Arrow." Complicated, Bruce would give him that. Note to self: never engage in romance as costumed vigilante.

"So basically you're right back where you started."

"No this is worse." Oliver sounded depressed, which was unusual for him, and slightly worrisome.

"You wanna grab a drink?" he offered hesitantly. He probably did not need any more to drink but it had to be asked.

"Already been there." At least he admitted it.

"Wanna grab another?" Why wouldn't he stop there? Right, Chloe was looking at him begging for answers. Darn his soft spot for her.

"Nah, I'm just gonna talk to her tomorrow." His lower lip jutted out in appreciation. That took guts, he had to give him that.

"Ok, man, talk to you later." Bruce hung up, looking at all the eyes that were rained on him.

Chloe sighed and leaned back into the couch. "That's why you go to Tess for answers," she pointed out.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver knew he needed to talk to her. He couldn't just communicate with her as Green Arrow. That just wasn't the makings of a healthy relationship. So he went to the Daily Planet the next morning and headed straight up to her office. He stood in the doorway and waited for her to notice him as this might be one of the only peaceful shots he'll get of her for the next few months. As Oliver that is.

Those green eyes were trained on the paper in one hand and flicked to the paper she was taking notes on, pen poised on the paper. Her brilliant red hair tumbled down past her shoulders, framing her beautiful face.

And then she noticed him, seemingly without looking up. Her eyes flicked to him and settled on his eyes, baring into them with her usual intensity. "Here for round 2?" she asked easily, stoney facade stubbornly in place. But then she went back to ignoring him and read something on her computer.

"Actually, I'm here to apologize," he admitted. She tore her eyes away from the screen and the emerald orbs fixed on him in slight confusion, waiting for an explanation.

"That's new," she swung the chair around and got out of it, going to get herself a drink ignoring the elephant that was growing in the room, "am I even trustworthy enough to hear something as rare as that?" Really, she was extraordinarily nervous and slightly scared. But he wouldn't know that. Not if she had any way of preventing it.

She must have been even more hurt than he originally thought. When she was hurt she always went on the offense. Her back was to him, making it slightly easier to apologize. "You didn't deserve what I said. I'm sorry."

She froze. She hadn't expected that. What's worse is she couldn't come up with a retort for that. She wanted things to go back to their banter. It was easy, simple. And she couldn't get hurt. It was safe. At least with the banter she knew where they stood. But after everything...she just wasn't sure. And that bothered her. "Don't be," she said venomously, turning to face him, "It showed me how fragile the trust was."

"Let's not do this," Oliver pleaded, "be honest with me."

Tess was now on a roll and wasn't able to stop even if she wanted to. To some extent once she starts and gets her bearings, she's a bulldozer and doesn't care about anyone's feelings who get in the way, including hers. That was a problem she had been trying to work on for a while now, but to no avail. Thus, she responded how her instincts told her to. She knew she would regret it later but she said it anyway, ending the conversation. "Regardless of whether I am or not, you won't believe me. So, what's the point?"

Oliver could take a hint. He knew she was still hurt so she wasn't going to let him in, no matter what. But the thing was, she didn't fight the way most people do when they're hurt. She's supposed to call him names that don't make sense and yell about how much she hates him and he wouldn't understand it. But that'd be better than this. He understood this. And she hit where it hurt. Her fury was cold, sharp, and laser-like. She was extraordinarily calm and therefore she knew how to hit and precisely where, and just how to word it. And that was the most difficult part.

But if she did fight the way most do, she wouldn't be her. And he wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.

As he was walking down the hall, he passed Lois, who had could tell he wasn't in the mood to talk. She followed her instincts toward Tess' office and leaned against the doorway. Tess was staring down at her drink, but not really seeing it, lost in thought. Lois could practically see her gears turning.

She knew better than to interrupt Tess and her plotting session but did so anyway against her better judgement. A problem, she knew but not one that she put forth an effort to fix. "You shouldn't be so hard on him. Yeah, he's kind of a hothead but he would have come back to you."

Tess looked up at Lois, her frosty facade still firmly in place though, against Tess' will was thawing and Lois could see the beginnings of desperate honesty lingering behind those cold orbs. "Why do you think that?"

Lois prepared herself to say something to the woman she couldn't be in the same room with for more than 3 minutes without a brawl occurring that she hadn't said aloud to anyone else, ever. Something that had hurt up until this point. Something that she tried to deny for a long time even to herself. "Oliver talks in his sleep."

Tess didn't even have time to come up with a snappy remark before her impulse reaction kicked in. "What?" Tess was searching for a relevance somewhere, anywhere as to what that could possibly mean. But she was coming up with...nothing. Nothing other than the fact that she had seen him sleep, or heard in this case, which certainly wasn't having the desired affect. "Of course she did," Tess mentally berated herself, "you're not his only former flame." But that didn't wipe away the pain either.

"I didn't know what it meant at first. I mean it made no sense and was completely random. But when you showed up it made sense. Cause, you're Mercy." She had heard him say it in his sleep multiple times and it hadn't made sense. She had mulled it over and come up with only one explanation..that is until he heard his affectionate nickname. She just assumed he had nightmares. Nope, he just dreamed of her. That had stung for a while but she was surprisingly ok with that now. She owed that much to Clark.

Tess had a feeling where this was going but she decided that that was hope talking. "He would say one word over and over in his sleep. Mercy. At first I thought he was begging for mercy but most people don't look serene when begging for their life. In my experience," Lois explained at Tess' confused look. At this point Lois just assumed that she was focused on not recognizing Oliver's feelings. Which frustrated her to no end. She took a deep breath in and bit back the frustration that grew so easily in the reporter.

"That doesn't mean he would've come back. That was then. Now is...different." Tess' silent anger had dissipated into something more depressed. Her gaze was cast downward as she resisted the urge to scream.

"You know I didn't mean to fall in love with Smallville. He was just a farmboy that had this army brat falling head over heels. There was no logical reason for it. He had no edge. But I fell." Realizing she was babbling she shook her head. For the second time Tess looked up in confusion. Lois berated herself. Wow she was not good at this. "My point is it doesn't have to make sense. And even though he may not agree with some of things you do, that doesn't mean he doesn't love you." Feeling satisfied by her inspirational speech, Lois turned to leave, praying to whatever deity that was listening thay she didn't get called back.

Tess didn't say anything, just let it settle in her mind. Lois paused, and looked over her shoulder, figuring she might as well go out with a bang. "When we broke up, he said that he never regretted leaving anyone. But I know that billionaire well enough to know when he's lying. He asked if this was the moment he would regret for the rest of his life. I said yes, but I was wrong, and I do not admit that easily. Look, I don't know what happened between you and Ollie originally, but that was the moment he has regretted and probably will regret for the rest of his life. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, Tess, but don't make this your moment." With that Lois turned and left, hoping something she said hit home and grateful for that bit of divine inspiration.

Tess wasn't sure how much Lois knew about them. Whether she was holding off information for her sake or for dramatic effect or if Oliver had really never talked about it, but she did know something about Oliver Queen. "Lois," she called out.

Lois was slightly surprised. After all, whenever anyone else said something that dramatic they didn't get called back. Just her luck. She was still wondering where she came up with that whole speech, and hoping she had the ability to wing one last dramatic exit. Even she was willing to admit that was not likely. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing," she answered bluntly, "but that's the key." Nailed it. That's just as efficient of an exit. Hopefully this time she'll let her make it. She strutted out, hair flying backward, pleased with herself, the entire time still hoping for Tess to let her exit.

She did. Tess was too deep in thought to be even remotely aware of anything going on around her. No matter how much she hated it, Lois was right. Oliver never talked about what hurt. Even when they were happy memories that he loved to talk about, he didn't do it. On nearly no circumstances. You had to ask, and depending on how deep the wound is and how recent, it could take some convincing. And Lois was only a few months after...they parted ways.

She remembered him talking about his parents. His face would light up. He would talk faster than she had ever heard him. And he would smile. It was bright and genuine and excitedly boyish. Tess had always loved it on him.

She would listen intently, engulfing every word he said as he regaled her with the love stories she'd never gotten to hear as a child. She would ask questions and he would get even more excited, because it meant she was really listening. He never mentioned it on his own, but the reason he never talked about it was because he was afraid that they wouldn't care.

She knew because that's why she never talked about her childhood. At least, that was the reason then. Then she trusted people. Now she was worried that they would use it against her. But now she also missed the ability to tell people things. So many nights she and Oliver would stay up and just talk and she wouldn't watch what she said because she had felt safe with him.

She always had. When she cried he would wrap his arms around her and she would lose herself in him. She made him feel like nothing could touch her.

Someone knocked on the door. Tess' face went cold and her head snapped up from her drink. It was Chloe. "I can come back another time if you want."

Tess relaxed. Slightly. "No, that's fine," she said, moving to her desk. "What do you need?"

"I know we're not exactly close, but I heard that you and Oliver had a fight. And this sounded a lot better in my head, but I know you don't really have anybody, so if you need to talk..." Chloe stumbled awkwardly, hoping that she sounded better than she thought she did. Probably not but still, she could hope.

Tess was slightly stunned and didn't bother to hide it. "Um, I," she took a deep breathe, searching for words, "thank you." She had to wonder though. When did the Lane-Sulivan cousins care at all about her? She assumed they'd be with Oliver. Maybe the other night hit closer to home with them than she had expected.

"The only people I've really done this with are Clark, Lois, and Lana, and I've known them all my life, so I've never really done the...this part," Chloe attempted to explain her awkwardness. It had had been natural with them but this seemed kind of like too abrupt of a beginning. Nonetheless, she promised she would try. So she would push this if she had to, no matter how much Tess resisted.

"I'm sorry. I'm just...surprised," she admitted. Nobody, besides Oliver, had ever tried to reach out to her. Lois, she had a vague inkling of understanding. But Chloe...no she never saw this coming, not from her.

"Yeah, I just thought that you didn't really have anyone to talk to so you might want to talk." She froze, realizing she just insulted her in trying to explain herself and attempted to fix her mistake. "Not that you don't have any other friends, but I..."

Tess cut her off. "No, you're right. I don't. It's just kind of a fact I've grown used to." Sad. It sounded so pathetically sad when she said it out loud. It made her think she was strong for so long but out loud...it just made her seem pathetic.

Chloe was getting more comfortable with this now that the conversation had actually been initiated on her part to. Tess had begun to open up and that excited her. "You shouldn't have to."

"After a while you don't really think anything of it," Tess explained, hating how pathetic the words sounded out loud when they had been her tether for so long.

Chloe searched for words now. "What happened?"

"He didn't trust me," she stated simply, praying that she wouldn't have to divulge anymore. It was too fresh, too new, too painful to talk about now.

"Not now, I mean originally. Oliver and I got pretty close but he never talked about it, he'd talked about when he was with Lois but there seems to be a massive gap in his lifespan from when he got off the island and when he met us."

Tess hesitated, seeming a little wary. Chloe noticed this and explained a little further. "I'm not a threat to you, especially where Oliver is concerned." That was a far fetched idea, she inwardly scoffed. But maybe to the untrained eye...nah.

"He cheated on me," Tess replied simply. She no longer met Chloe's gaze. She had seen more of the floor today than she ever cared to. But anything was better than the most likely judging eyes of the petite blonde across the room.

"Was he at least honest with you about it?" Chloe tried seeing the bright side, only to be shut down.

Tess chuckled humorlessly and met her gaze, a ghost of her usual cold demeanor on her face, mirthless smirk and all. It just seemed...sadder somehow. "He didn't have to be. I walked in on it."

"What did he say?" Chloe was stunned. It was no wonder they never talked about it. Suddenly all the pieces fit into place. She always assumed Oliver was ashamed because of what Tess had become. She assumed that Tess just got unlucky and decided to get a job at Luthorcorp and rode the downward slope. But maybe there's more to Tess Mercer than meets the eye.

"I don't know. I turned around and went for a drink. When I got back he was gone. He had packed up his things and left. I didn't see him again until a few months ago." She couldn't tell you why she was telling what was arguably her arch nemesis all this. But maybe she just needed to open up to someone. And Lois' obvious want of a dramatic exit did not fit the profile.

Chloe's eyes were wide and her jaw had dropped at some point during the story. Oliver, the Green Arrow had cheated on his girlfriend of two years and then left without another word. She would certainly never look at him the same way again. "Honesty hour?" Chloe asked.

Tess nodded, needing to hear someone else be honest for a minute. She was sick of hearing her voice, especially with how weak it sounded. "I thought you were overreacting. Now, I think it was justified."

"I should've handled it better. There's no doubt about that," Tess retorted, not having the strength to defend herself. Besides she was beside herself with the self-disgust that usually only caught up to her at night. But she just didn't have the energy to fight it off.

"We all could've handled it better. I'm not saying it doesn't matter. But what matters more, is how we bounce back from it. And as much as I hate to admit it the best thing you two can do to do that is come together. He needs someone to turn to, that understands him. None of us do, he has his own demons to fight and you help him fight them, because you understand because you have them too. I don't mean to offend but you've obviously got your demons, we all do, and he helps you fight them, too. So what's the problem?" Chloe asked, getting more and more riled up, frustrated by the fact that seemed to blind to something that seemed so obvious to her.

"Unfortunately those demons get in the way more than any of us would have hoped," Tess admitted. Those demons, being hers, and his understandable distrust of them. But still, it pained her to think that he thought so little of her, especially after successfully convincing herself that she didn't care for so long.

"Then let him help you," Chloe encouraged. She felt she was reaching through and wasn't about to back down by the world's weakest excuse.

Tess looked unsure at first, but it was quickly replaced by a look of determination. She nodded. Chloe smiled and stepped to the side, allowing Tess to leave. She brushed past her and headed towards Oliver's apartment. Chloe happily followed, but kept her distance so as not to tick her off.

After coming up with forty five million different ways to approach this, she realized that no matter what she planned she would forget it, besides if she thought about that then she would think about how she got here and how hurt she was, and that would only make her bitter which wouldn't help matters. So, she decided to let instinct take over. She turned on the radio and let the music drown her thoughts.

It didn't work. Instead every word that reached her ears somehow connected to Oliver. Her heart welled up in her throat again and she turned it off. After a few minutes of silence and preferring to just feel instead of think she pulled into a parking space outside of his apartment.

Next thing she knew she was standing outside his apartment and ringing the bell. He pulled the door open and locked eyes with her. Her breath got caught in her throat and she had to remind herself to breathe. Neither could say anything. Neither knew what to say.

They found they had lost the ability to speak as emotion rode their gaze, making their feelings clear. "I'o m sorry," was all she was able to get out.

He still couldn't speak, and somehow that translated into allowing instincts and emotions to take control. He kissed her. Hungrily, as though she was the breath he had been trying to catch since he was born.

She didn't pull away. She had been running for so long from her feelings and thoughts that he allowed her to feel. She held on, afraid that the moment they broke apart he would remember her bitter rejection and tell her he didn't want someone so cruel.

Only, he didn't. When he did pull away he still stared at her as she waited with bated breath for his reaction. To her surprise, he smiled. "You know, maybe I should get you mad at me more often."

She smiled back at him, now reassured that this was and always had been the end game. There was nothing left for them to mess up. They'd been through enough that they would last the rest of their lives. Undeniably, there would be little tiffs here and there, but that would happen anywhere. And if they all ended like that, then they would not only survive them, but make them stronger.

But that was far from Oliver's thoughts. How was he supposed to explain to her about the "other guy?" How could he tell her to trust him when he just got her back?

A/N: unfortunately my update time only goes downhill from here. I've had up until here written already so I just had to edit it but from here on out I have to write and then post. Another thing that is not so fortunate is that I have absolutely no idea where to go from here. I am hoping that a bit of inspiration randomly hits me at some point soon but I can't garuntee that. I'm trying to get my motivation up but again no garuntees. I have a few other things I want to get up featuring our favorite redhead among other women awesome like her so I hope you guys check it out though you may have to follow me or just check regularly. Reviewa would be great!


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